Grey was the most popular car colour in the UK last year

Grey overtook black as the most popular new car colour in 2018, an 18th straight year of monochrome.

You have to go back to 1999 for the last year that a colour topped the charts, with silver, black white and grey the most popular finishes for almost the last two decades.

Registrations of both black and grey were down on 2017 numbers, but greyâ€™s -1.1 per cent drop to 495,127 was enough to see it topple black from the top spot as the colour fell -7.3 per cent to 478,154. Just over one in five of 2018â€™s 2.4 million new car registrations were painted grey, according to the figures released this week by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

The most popular car colours since 1997. SMMT

Orange on the up

In line with the new car marketâ€™s performance in 2018, demand for most colours in the top 10 was down year on year, apart from orange and beige, which saw significant increases of +37 per cent and +28 per cent. Orange jumped up to seventh place, while beige made its first appearance in the top 10 since 2014 as a number of new and upgraded models had the colour as an option.

The top three colours maintained a strong grip on the chart â€“ 59 per cent of new cars registered in the UK in 2018 were grey, black or white. Itâ€™s been nine years since a primary colour last sat in the top three, but blue maintained its solid fourth position, while red knocked white down a place to introduce more colour to the top five.

Cream saw the biggest overall percentage drop, with just 559 drivers opting for the colour during 2018, down -34 per cent. Meanwhile, although nearly 7,000 motorists tried to bring a bit of sunshine to UK roads, demand for yellow cars also fell by a third (-34 per cent). White has been the biggest loser in recent years, with more than 132,000 fewer cars registered in white last year than in 2015 when it reached its peak.

White tops lists in Scotland but Northern Ireland feeling grey

Scots bucked the national trend, putting white on top, but in Northern Ireland and Wales the grey mood was prevalent. Blue made a podium appearance in all three countries as buyers opted for a splash of colour. Meanwhile English drivers made the most of the 118 different colours available on the market, registering 116 of them in 2018, while just 53 different colours were registered in Northern Ireland.

Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive,Â said,Â â€œThere are more opportunities than ever to personalise your new car to your exact taste, and UK motorists have approached the challenge with gusto in 2018. With around 80 new or upgraded models coming to market in 2019 equipped with the latest low and zero-emission powertrains, advanced safety tech and exciting comfort and convenience features, itâ€™s great that buyers have so much to choose from.â€